


Pluviophile

by WrathoftheStag (Mwuahna)



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Meeting, Baker Bitty, Bakery AU, Falconer Jack, Fluff, M/M, Rain, The yellow gym shoes, bitty still went to samwell, coffee shop AU, flirty!jack, jack did not, meet cute, zimbits - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-06
Updated: 2018-09-06
Packaged: 2019-07-07 19:46:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15915045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mwuahna/pseuds/WrathoftheStag
Summary: Bitty doesn't mean to splash that guy with his car, but in his defense, it was raining really hard and he may have been distracted by those yellow gym shoes.  A Zimbits meet cute AU.  Just short and sweet!





	Pluviophile

“It was the best offer, mama,” Bitty had said as he finished packing the last of his things and explained to Suzanne why he was moving to Providence for the umpteenth time.

“Well, it seems like you could have worked at a bakery here if that’s what you were looking for.”

“Mama,” Bitty sighed, “It’s not as though I’m working at Dotty’s Pie Shop. It’s Pastiche for crying out loud!”

While it was a small, laid-back bakery, Pastiche had a reputation for hiring the next Big Shot in the baking world. People who left Pastiche went on to work at the best restaurants and bakeries in the country. And so, Bitty left the Haus with a new job, a new apartment, and new life, knowing that Shitty, Lardo, Holster and Ransom were a stone’s throw away in Boston, while his frogs and waffles remained close by at Samwell.

Providence seemed like such a good idea until he sat there in his car willing the red light to change as a pair of angry blue eyes stared at him through the other side of his window.

“Hey, remember me?!”

Bitty shook his head furiously. Of course, he remembered him...

 

It had been last week, and Bitty was on his way to a staff meeting at Pastiche. His very first, and he was nervous as hell. Even though he already had the job, he wanted to make a good impression. He looked back at the croquembouche daintily sitting in a box in the back seat of his car, and thought maybe he went overboard, but he didn’t care. He wanted to be memorable at that meeting.

Nature, however, did not want to be outshone so it began to pour. Five minutes into his drive, the sheets of rain were unrelenting. Bitty prayed his croquembouche would make it to Pastiche still intact. It didn’t help that almost all of the drivers out on the Providence streets that morning decided they all forgot how to drive. 

Bitty was on high alert as he drove, and noticed the car ahead of him dipped violently into what appeared to be a gigantic pothole. Bitty steered quickly to the right to avoid the same fate and in doing so, drove straight into a large puddle and created the biggest splash he’d ever seen. It was only until it happened that Bitty noticed the poor person on the sidewalk at the receiving end. All he could see were a pair of bright yellow gym shoes. 

“Oh my god!” Bitty yelled out as he looked in his rearview mirror and could see a guy angrily shaking his fist and presumably shouting.

Bitty’s impulse was to pull over and apologize, but the traffic behind him was right on his ass. He drove around the block but the guy was nowhere to be seen. Bitty felt like a Grade A jerk, but there was nothing else to do at that point but get to his meeting and hope they were okay.

A week passed and Bitty had pretty much forgotten about the splash incident until he was on his way to his weekly staff meeting when he noticed a runner on the sidewalk. Bitty took a quick glance, because how could he not? Lord, he was cute. He had broad shoulders, the most amazing thighs, calves that looked like they could crush a watermelon, and the ugliest pair of yellow gym shoes he’d ever---oh, shit. 

Just as Bitty drove past him, they locked eyes, and Bitty could see the flash of recognition in the guy’s face. Fate, a cruel mistress, decided that Bitty’s day of reckoning was upon him as the light turned red at the corner.

"Oh dear lord, please don't let him recognize my car. Please, please, please..." 

And just as Bitty stared ahead and gripped the steering wheel as though his life depended on it, he heard a _tap-tap-tap_ on his window. He looked over and saw a pair of angry blue eyes staring at him.

“Hey, remember me?!”

Bitty shook his head furiously. 

“Yeah, you do,” the guy said.

Bitty mumbled, “No, sir. I think you’re mistaken,” and double-checked to make sure his door was locked.

The guy watched Bitty with confusion then took a step back, “ _Crisse_ , I’m not going to hurt you. I was just going to say try not to splash people next time.” 

He walked back to the sidewalk and turned to look at Bitty once again. Bitty watched the guy shake his head and begin to jog away.

The car behind Bitty honked its horn, and Bitty was startled back into motion. He could feel his face burning. His mama would be mortified right now. He drove to work and sighed. 

 

“Eric, Lucy just called in sick--totally last minute, but do you think you could work her shift at the front of the house today?” Emmanuelle asked at the end of the staff meeting.

“Of course,” Bitty quickly said wanting to appear like a team player. 

Bitty didn’t mind working the register sometimes. While he loved baking and being in the kitchen, it was nice to interact with the regulars, see what pastries people preferred, toss potential ideas out to them. 

Everything was going fine until he asked, “What can I get you?” and found himself looking at that same pair of blue eyes once again.

The man, who really had no business being that cute, raised an eyebrow at Bitty.

“What deep-fried hell is this?” Bitty muttered as the words died halfway.

The guy smirked and cleared his throat. “Oh, so you _do_ remember me? Would you look at that.”

Bitty opened his mouth, but nothing came out--unusual to be sure. The two stared at each other until the guy cleared his throat again.

“So, can I get a medium coffee. The house blend?”

Bitty nodded. “Anything else?”

“Maybe a towel?” He chirped. “You know, just in case.”

The smile he gave Bitty made him want to melt into a puddle right then and there.

“That’ll be $3.00,” Bitty said as he tried to regain his composure.

The guy reached for his pocket and lifted the end of his running shirt just enough to expose a bit of his Adonis belt. He pulled out a five dollar bill and handed it to Bitty with a chirpy grin. 

“Here you go,” he said with a then-neutral expression.

Bitty took the money and felt his face flush. He gave the guy his change, and the guy, in turn, tossed it into the tip jar.

“For here or to go?” Bitty asked.

“To go, I guess.”

“Name?”

“Jack.” 

“Okay, um, Jack. A pot of the house blend is just finishing up, so I’ll bring it right out to you as soon as it’s done brewing.”

“Sounds good,” Jack replied then walked over to a small table near the window.

Bitty made his way to the pot and watched as it continued to brew. Was that flirting? No. Maybe? 

Bitty nonchalantly looked over his shoulder and Jack stood and reached back to stretch his quad ever-so-slowly. Jack wasn’t flirting, was he? 

“Jeez,” Bitty said as he let out a small chuckle. Was this guy being a try-hard, or what? Still, he didn’t have to try hard, that’s for sure.

Bitty poured Jack’s coffee and put the lid on the to-go cup. 

He approached Jack. “Here you go.”

“Thanks,” Jack said with a smile. He took a sip, “Ow, hot.” He blew on it and took another sip. “Ow, still hot.”

This boy.

“By the way, I’d like to formally apologize for splashing you the other day. I really have better manners than that, but I was mortified---”

“And I was soaked,” Jack teased.

Bitty blushed. “Yep, I’m sorry. Really. I drove around the block, but you were gone by then.”

“Honestly, it’s not like I got any wetter,” Jack said reassuringly. 

“And I’m sorry I acted like I didn’t know who you were earlier today.”

“You know who I am?” Jack asked with a frown.

Bitty nodded, “Yeah… uh, you’re the guy I splashed with my car? I thought we established that already.”

Jack smiled again, “Right. Yes, that’s me.”

“Anyhoo… here,” Bitty said as he handed Jack a small waxed paper bag. “It's a cherry turnover I made. On me. Consider it restitution.”

“Thanks,” Jack said as he looked at Bitty’s name tag. “Eric.”

“Thanks, Jack.”

Jack laughed, “For what?”

Bitty blushed again, “I don’t know! I’m just trying to be super polite here.”

“Well, I’ll see you around,” Jack said. 

“Sure. I’ll, uh, try not to splash you anymore,” Bitty called out.

“That’s the plan,” Jack said and gave him a final wave as he exited.

Sanjeet, who was busing a table, approached Bitty and said, “Huh, he never talks to anyone.”

“Who? Him?” Bitty asked as he pointed at Jack who could be seen walking down the sidewalk.

“Yeah, Jack Zimmermann is pretty private. It’s a miracle if you can even get a hello outta that dude,” Sanjeet replied and walked back to the kitchen.

“Jack… Zimmermann?” Bitty said to no one in particular. He then pulled out his phone and opened up Google. “Oh, my sweet baby Jesus…” 

 

So it went for several weeks, Jack would come in and buy coffee after his run. He’d spend a few minutes chirping Bitty (at that point, Bitty was convinced that chirping was a weird Jack Zimmermann flirting technique), and then head out with his coffee and turnover. But neither of them really made a move.

“It’s not like I can just ask him out,” Bitty told Lardo over the phone one night as he made a batch of peanut butter cookies.

“Why the hell not?” she asked. “It sounds like he’s into you. You know, ever since he came out last year, he hasn’t dated anyone.”

“And you know this how?” Bitty asked.

“ _Lainey Gossip_ knows all,” she said. 

“Oh, you and those damn gossip sites. Maybe he’s just super private?” 

“Or maybe he’s just super into Y-O-U,” she said.

Bitty stopped stirring and waved his wooden spoon around. “Now why would a millionaire hockey player be interested in me?”

“Because you’re you. Duh!” 

Bitty sighed. Sure Jack smiled at lot at him, and his co-workers at Pastiche said their chemistry was hotter than a loaf of freshly baked bread, but stuff like that--meet cutes--didn’t happen to people in real life. That was the stuff of rom coms, and Eric R. Bittle was not a rom com, get-kissed-in-the-rain leading man. He always felt like he was best friend material at best.

“I think he just likes me for my baked goods,” Bitty said with a laugh trying to push away any glimmer of hope. “Oh, shoot.”

“What’s up?”

“Speaking of baked goods, I’m out of peanut butter chips. I gotta go. I think the little store down the street closes in ten minutes.”

“Run, Bitty! Run,” Lardo said. 

Bitty laughed. “Love you, bye!”

“Love you, too! And send me some cookies.”

Bitty grabbed his wallet and keys and started to make his way to the little shop around the corner as it began to drizzle. He made it just in time before they closed and as he headed toward his apartment, it began to rain in earnest. And it rained like the rain was trying to make a point.

He clutched the plastic bag, which held his chips, close to his chest and he ran from awning to awning trying to keep as dry as he could. He was in such a hurry to leave for the store, he had forgotten his umbrella and really regretted it.

Finally he gave up, and began to trot back to the apartment resigned that he’d just get wet. Everything was fine until he stopped at a red light and a white SUV drove quickly by the curb and splashed him from head to toe.

“WHAT THE SAUSAGE!” Bitty yelled as dirty water dribbled down his face.

The SUV stopped abruptly, pulled over, and he saw the driver’s side door open.

“Thanks a lot,” Bitty called out sarcastically, and then stopped when he saw who climbed out of the car.

“Eric?” Jack asked incredulously.

“Jack? Seriously?!”

The two looked at one another and began to laugh.

“You did this on purpose! You jerk!” Bitty said in between peals of laughter.

“I swear, I didn’t!” Jack said as he finally walked up to Bitty and bent down to pick up his bag. “Here.”

Bitty wiped some grit off his cheek and snatched the bag away. “Thanks.”

“I’m so sorry,” Jack said and tried not to laugh again.

“Turnabout is fair play, I guess,” Bitty said.

“Can I give you a ride home?” Jack said softly as he took a step closer to Bitty.

“Well, it’s the least you can do,” Bitty said and found himself a step closer to Jack.

“No… I think _this_ is the least I can do,” Jack said with the gentlest of chirps as he cupped Bitty’s face and leaned down to press a soft kiss onto Bitty’s lips. 

Bitty smiled into the kiss as he rose onto his toes. 

The rain continued to pour down about them and it appeared that both Jack and Bitty didn’t mind being wet so much after all.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this on my lunch hour, so please excuse any wonkiness. ~~Most~~ Sometimes I like to write Jack as a clueless moose when it comes to his feelings. Other times, I like to write him as a (mostly) assertive flirtmeister. And yes, he does consider chirping as a form of flirtation.
> 
> Pluviophile = Someone who loves the rain.
> 
> Come and say [hi on Tumblr](http://wrathofthestag.tumblr.com/).
> 
> All OMGCP characters belong to Ngozi Ukazu <3
> 
> [Pastiche is a real place](http://pastichefinedesserts.com/) in Providence. I made up the part of their employees' success in moving on, but the rest of it is true. It looks super cute!


End file.
